The space shuttle Columbia may carry Israel?s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, but it also now has the distinction of being the first place where images of an elf were captured on film. No, not the little guys that feature in children?s bedtime stories.
The Environmental News Network (ENN) reported this past week on the exciting results, beamed to earth as part of the experiments being carried out on behalf of Israel on the space shuttle Columbia. ?Israeli scientists...? ENN reported, ?said they have yet to find any dust storms, but are zooming in on thunderstorms with electrifying results.? According to ENN, ?A pair of cameras aboard Columbia have captured video images of an elf ? a luminous red, bagel-shaped electrical phenomenon that occurs above a thunderstorm in less than a millisecond, said Yoav Yair, an atmospheric scientist at the Open University of Israel in Tel Aviv.? The image was serendipitously captured from a South Pacific thunderstorm. In fact, ?it was not until the images were transmitted to Yair and other scientists back on Earth that they realized what they had,? the report said.
Yoav Yair, an atmospheric scientist at the Open University of Israel in Tel Aviv, is quoted by ENN as saying,"It's causing really great excitement." Speaking from NASA's payload control center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Yair enthused, "Bingo, we nailed one almost in the first data take. It was amazing." ENN explains the significance of the elves, ?a phenomenon discovered in 1994, the scientists hope to learn more about the mechanics that connect thunderstorms to the ionosphere above. Such knowledge ultimately could have major applications for spacecraft, Yair said.?
Ironically, the purpose of the Israeli observations was to capture data on dust storms, which, according to ENN, will be hard to find, as ?January is one of the worst times to study dust storms over the Mediterranean, the prime area of interest for the researchers.?
The Environmental News Network (ENN) reported this past week on the exciting results, beamed to earth as part of the experiments being carried out on behalf of Israel on the space shuttle Columbia. ?Israeli scientists...? ENN reported, ?said they have yet to find any dust storms, but are zooming in on thunderstorms with electrifying results.? According to ENN, ?A pair of cameras aboard Columbia have captured video images of an elf ? a luminous red, bagel-shaped electrical phenomenon that occurs above a thunderstorm in less than a millisecond, said Yoav Yair, an atmospheric scientist at the Open University of Israel in Tel Aviv.? The image was serendipitously captured from a South Pacific thunderstorm. In fact, ?it was not until the images were transmitted to Yair and other scientists back on Earth that they realized what they had,? the report said.
Yoav Yair, an atmospheric scientist at the Open University of Israel in Tel Aviv, is quoted by ENN as saying,"It's causing really great excitement." Speaking from NASA's payload control center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Yair enthused, "Bingo, we nailed one almost in the first data take. It was amazing." ENN explains the significance of the elves, ?a phenomenon discovered in 1994, the scientists hope to learn more about the mechanics that connect thunderstorms to the ionosphere above. Such knowledge ultimately could have major applications for spacecraft, Yair said.?
Ironically, the purpose of the Israeli observations was to capture data on dust storms, which, according to ENN, will be hard to find, as ?January is one of the worst times to study dust storms over the Mediterranean, the prime area of interest for the researchers.?